Neal Runs For Mayor

Wailin Wong & Shaun Hildner

Go behind the scenes of Neal Sáles-Griffin's quest to become mayor of Chicago. Follow along as a first-time candidate navigates the byzantine world of Chicago politics, and hear from Neal's colleagues, friends, family—and Neal himself.

  1. 04/11/2019 ·  Bonus

    BONUS: Neal Did Things Differently

    In the last of our election post-mortem bonuses, we hear from a data scientist, a filmmaker, and Neal's mom about the work they did on the campaign and what surprised them about the experience.

    12 min

  2. 04/04/2019 ·  Bonus

    BONUS: Kina Collins on Political Courage

    Kina Collins is a Chicago activist who's focused much of her work on gun violence prevention and criminal justice reform. In this bonus episode, she reflects on young voters' disenchantment with the citywide election, the tumultuous events that led up to it, and the work that continues.

    13 min

  3. 03/28/2019 ·  Bonus

    BONUS: Paul Vallas on endorsements

    Wailin sits down with former mayoral candidate and friend of Neal, Paul Vallas, to discuss his public support of Lori Lightfoot for the April 2 run-off and pull back the curtain on the endorsement process.

    9 min

  4. 03/21/2019

    What's Next

    As Chicago awaits the mayoral run-off on April 2, Neal isn't wasting any time in getting to work. He drops by to share his plans for what he's working on next. Plus he invites two friends—fellow candidate Paul Vallas and activist Kina Collins—to the studio to reflect on Neal's campaign and his next chapter. Show Notes "Paul Vallas Really Loves His Broom," a Chicago Magazine profile published in the run-up to the election (0:57)"Young Chicago Activists Have A Plan: Take Over City Hall," a WBEZ story featuring Kina Collins (0:58)Neal's faculty page at Northwestern (2:36)CodeNow (2:43)Mike McGee on Twitter (2:52)"Two Graphs Show Why the Chicago Area Is Losing Population" (4:05)Chicago Tribune article on low voter turnout (4:37)The Daily Line (8:18)Our episode on Neal's launch event (13:30)

    21 min

  5. 02/28/2019

    Election Night

    On February 26, Neal hosted friends and family for a party to say thank you and to watch the election returns. There was charcuterie, laughter, a few tears, and a lot of love. Not too shabby for a candidate who was never expected to get on the ballot. The first election may be over (Chicago is headed to a run-off in April), but the work is just beginning. Show Notes New York Times story on the election (00:39)The Chicago Board of Elections' unofficial summary report put Neal at 1,426 votes, or 0.27% (2:45)Neal and fellow candidate John Kozlar graduated from the same Chicago high school (3:00)Voter turnout was 34.11 percent, close to a record low of 33 percent in 2007 (5:46)Candidate Willie Wilson handed out checks on Valentine's Day, ostensibly to help Chicagoans pay their property taxes, definitely not anything to do with trying to win an election, nope (8:25)

    10 min

  6. 02/21/2019

    Show Your Work

    We've arrived at the final week for Neal, the longshot candidate who was the 14th and final mayoral hopeful to make it onto the ballot for this pivotal Chicago election. Neal and campaign manager Claire Feinberg talk about the projects they're pushing forward on that aren't just integral to the campaign, but are also laying a foundation for the work he wants to carry on past the February 26 election. Show Notes The Chicago Tonight forum on WTTW and the Fox 32 debate (0:52)Neal's Questions app (2:29)Neal's itemized receipt for the city budget (2:40)Neal's video introducing the Questions app (3:06)An example of Paul Vallas' answer to a question about pensions (3:20)An example of Lori Lightfoot's answer to a question about criminal justice (3:25)Neal's response on Twitter to a question about his views on debt (3:34)WBEZ interactive mayoral questionnaire (4:06)The Chicago Tribune's quiz on mayoral candidate alignment (4:48)"Slingshot," our previous episode featuring Claire Feinberg (8:38)The City of Chicago's 2013 announcement about the Tech Diversity Council (11:34)

    22 min

  7. 02/14/2019

    A Receipt for Your Taxes

    Neal is getting ready to unveil another big project—a visual explainer for how the Chicago budget works and where that $22 billion ends up. He's also starting to make the rounds at mayoral candidate forums and media interviews, making public his idea to give Chicagoans a receipt for their taxes. Show Notes Chicago reporter Sarah Karp tweeted updates from the mayoral forum at Kenwood Academy that Neal attended (00:30)Neal’s appearance on Fox32’s Good Day Chicago (00:40)The Center for Tax and Budget Accountability "Chicago's city budget 101" blog post (6:03)The Chicago Tribune's investigative reporting project on the city's municipal bond morass (7:51)Denver's tax receipt generator (10:09)

    20 min

  8. 02/07/2019

    Neal Sáles-Griffin Has A Cold

    Campaign tech wizard and behind-the-scenes fixer Raghu Betina sits down to talk about an app he's building that started as an internal tool for the campaign but is being turned into a publicly available voters guide. It's one of several projects that the campaign is working to unveil in the final weeks before the election. Neal is battling a cold but stops by to give a preview of what else is to come. Show Notes The Chicago Sun-Times' mayoral endorsement interviews (1:35)Neal explains the tech behind the digital affidavits in "The Sky Would Have To Open Up" (2:57)The story of Code Academy, the school Neal founded with his friend Mike McGee (4:13)Neal's website in Spanish (6:18)Our post-mortem of Neal's launch event (8:39)OurPlatform.com, the first version of the Questionnaires app (24:51)

    26 min
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

Go behind the scenes of Neal Sáles-Griffin's quest to become mayor of Chicago. Follow along as a first-time candidate navigates the byzantine world of Chicago politics, and hear from Neal's colleagues, friends, family—and Neal himself.

Information

  • Creator
    Wailin Wong & Shaun Hildner
  • Years Active
    2018 - 2019
  • Episodes
    24
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2025 Wailin Wong & Shaun Hildner
  • Show Website
    Neal Runs For Mayor